The Hope of America is a Lie

The English, Spanish, French and Dutch did not decimate nations of Indigenous Peoples because they had intentions to honor humanity or value choice. The true concept of freedom was foreign to the European pilgrims, explorers and revolutionaries. The men who set out to claim this New World understood they wanted to grab what they could and hold what their brutishness could manage. They didn’t want anyone hindering them or telling them what to do. They were willing to kill in their quest for self-determination. Yet they didn’t believe self-determination should be extended to women, children, daughters, mothers, widows, or anyone they thought they could conquer.

The America we inhabit today was founded, formed and framed by brutes and murderers. Enslavers, human traffickers, rapists and hate-filled humans. The laws, institutions, governments and overall society were created by these individuals and continue to perpetuate support for their progeny.

Trump is a habitual liar who has never lied about what he truly is. He is hate personified. He proudly flaunts his privilege of hating and desecrating life openly.

The first time, I was devastated and truly confused by his election to the presidency. When he tried to hold on to the office through insurrection and the suggestion of murder, I was transfixed to my television watching Americans attack themselves, their institutions, elected officials and service workers. However, I still believed in the hope of correction and justice. I believed – no, I EXPECTED – the institutions to right themselves, fight back and hold its members accountable.

This time, I’m resigned. He is who Americans truly are. The majority of Americans have been lying to themselves. There is no good in this country. There is no good coming from this country. We import and export hate. We fund hate, murder, genocide, and the general destruction of the Earth. We reward mediocrity, stupidity and violence. We honor money – it’s appearance, possibility, promise and its holders. Trump won because hate is the only thing Americans truly love to unify for.

Murderous mobs formed at the whisper of disrespect from any Black person in the early 1900’s. Concentration camps popped up in American communities to imprison Japanese citizens in the 1940’s. Imprisoning and assassinating Civil Rights Activists was a national pastime in in the 1960’s. Bush Jr. knew enough to create a common foreign enemy to garner public support for wars he instigated for profit. His successor, our first Black President, built on that foundation and had Americans dancing in the streets when he announced the murder of the man accused of bringing the World Trade buildings down. Even Obama, the great hope for a post-racial America fed into group-think hatred. Hate and violence are what unify Americans the most. When we understand this, we can better understand why non-violent resistance is tolerated. It’s not expected to recruit enough to change the core of this nation. Our violence is so ingrained, Kamala Harris didn’t even consider denouncing the genocides in Gaza or Sudan. In fact, she doubled down on verbally supporting Israel and global power structures funded by American tax dollars. There’s no telling if that cost her the election, but it certainly cost her votes. It certainly cost her my labor as a volunteer for her campaign and my ears as a true believer in her interest in changing the status quo. That is neither here nor there. Just as I know Trump is a useful idiot for the true power brokers, Harris would have also been used to execute the whims of those holding the purse strings. Ultimately, violence thrives on power. In this country, power accumulates in the hands of those with the most money.

There is no high ground here. We are all in the gutter. We are all haters and murderers. Since Bush Jr. declared war in the name of The People of the United States, we have been complicit. Through each of the last six elections, We, The People of the United States have failed to correct or apply justice to any wrongs committed against ourselves or our global neighbors. Perhaps that is where my resignation comes from. Trump is a pustule on a decaying body. He is not the beginning or the end of who we are. However, he has been masterfully proficient in getting his followers to identify themselves and their dark natures.

There is value in that. Social justice workers, civil rights activists and humanitarians have been fighting an extremely discouraging battle for over one hundred years on the assumption that their fellow citizens are inherently good. For the last fifteen years, it has become more and more clear that people in America do not want to be good. They want to be privileged, and they want that privilege to be exclusive to a certain segment. Those outside of that segment, jockey to benefit from adjacency.